Nvidia beats Microsoft and Apple to become world’s most valuable company: What’s behind the rise

Nvidia has become the world’s most valuable company, overtaking Microsoft, as demand for its AI chips continues to soar. Nvidia's market value rose to $3.34 trillion this week, making it worth more than Microsoft at $3.32 trillion and Apple at $3.29 trillion. Fueled by growing interest in artificial intelligence technologies, the chipmaker’s stock has gained over 170% this year and more than tripled in value over the past 12 months.

What led to Nvidia’s rise as world's most valable company

Nvidia's rise has been driven by its dominant position in providing chips used in AI systems, including those that power tools like ChatGPT. Its graphics processing units (GPUs) are a key component for training and running large language models.


Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has often emphasized the AI revolution. Speaking during the company’s earnings report, Huang said “The next industrial revolution has begun — companies and countries are partnering with Nvidia to shift the trillion-dollar traditional data centers to accelerated computing and build a new type of data center — AI factories — to produce a new commodity: artificial intelligence”.

Top 3 most valuable companies in the world are

Nvidia, Microsoft, and Apple are competing to be the world’s most valuable company. Microsoft had long held the top spot among the world’s most valuable companies, with Apple briefly overtaking it earlier this year.


Nvidia’s climb to the top marks a major moment for the chip industry, traditionally seen as a lower-margin hardware sector compared to software and services. While Nvidia’s revenue is still much lower than Microsoft’s or Apple’s — it reported $26 billion in its latest quarter compared to Microsoft’s $62 billion — investors are betting big on future growth.


What’s next

According to experts, Nvidia’s current valuation reflects high expectations for AI development and adoption. The company continues to launch new chips, including its Blackwell line expected later this year, which could further cement its market dominance.


Whether Nvidia can maintain the top spot depends on continued strong demand and its ability to fend off competition from companies like AMD, Intel, and even its customers like Google and Amazon, which are building their own chips. As of now, Nvidia’s success shows how the center of gravity in the tech world is shifting — from software to silicon.